VICTORIA — Yannick Schwaller proved this week why his Swiss squad is ranked No. 1 in the world.
Schwaller secured his second career Grand Slam of Curling men's title after sweeping past Norway's Team Magnus Ramsfjell 7-3 during Sunday's final at the Co-op Invitational.
The Geneva club of Schwaller, fourth Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel, second Sven Michel and lead Pablo Lachat-Couchepin banked $38,000 from the prize purse in the season's first Grand Slam event.
"It's amazing," said Schwaller, who earned his first Grand Slam title last season at the Canadian Open. "To have gotten rid of that feeling of winning one in the cycle, it's fantastic.
"We just had a ton of fun this whole week. We were playing golf. We were enjoying Victoria. At the same time, we were very structured about what we were doing professionally on ice, so everything came together so nicely. We were able to find another gear in the playoffs, which was important to get us here."
Team Schwaller took the top spot in the rankings last month with their back-to-back tour wins at the Baden Masters and Euro Super Series events, but the Co-op Invitational was the first tournament of the new season with all of the top teams in one place.
Schwaller, who qualified for the playoffs with a 3-1 record, dispatched Winnipeg's Team Matt Dunstone in the quarterfinals and Calgary's Team Brad Jacobs in the semifinals to advance. His team's lone loss in the preliminary round was against world No. 2 Team Grant Hardie.
"This is cool," Schwarz-van Berkel said. "I mean, we know early September some of the teams are not playing yet. ... I think we were confident coming into the season, and we showed it this week, right? Just very happy to start the season this way."
It was the first career Grand Slam final for Ramsfjell, who opened with the hammer but fell behind big time early.
Schwaller stole a single in the first after Schwarz-van Berkel planted the perfect freeze, luring Ramsfjell into attempting a cross-house double for a potential three points. That didn’t materialize as the shooter rolled right under to give up one.
Things went from bad to worse for Ramsfjell in the third. Schwaller sat four counters in the house and stole them all, as Ramsfjell rolled heavy on his last to trail 5-0.
"Honestly, I think we gamed a little bit the rules, frankly. I think we had a great game plan that we executed, put them under pressure, and fortunately, they cracked early. Perfect scenario as a curling team," Schwarz-van Berkel said.
Facing another pile in the fourth end, Ramsfjell made no mistake this time, drawing with backing to get on the board, as the fans at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre rallied around the Oslo club.
"It's special," Ramsfjell said. "I feel like the crowd is super nice and everyone's cheering for everyone, especially when there are the European teams in the final, right? It's nice to feel like people really want you to make all the shots, and it's great."
After Schwarz-van Berkel missed a double on his first in the fifth, thus proving he is indeed human, he rebounded with a raise to tap back Ramsfjell’s rock far enough to add a deuce to the 7-1 rout.
Ramsfjell took two in the sixth and shook hands.
"What a way to start the season in a way, and the four-year cycle, so we’re very happy," Schwarz-van Berkel said. "That's close to the perfect start, probably the perfect start, so very happy for the team."
While Schwaller kept his lineup intact for the new Olympic cycle, the Ramsfjell cousins, Magnus and Bendik, have two new teammates in Steffen Walstad and Mathias Brænden.
Despite the tough loss in the final, Magnus said the week was incredible.
"We have a brand new team, and we played some events. We felt like we played super well, but without getting the results. It's been semifinal loss or final loss. We come here, we play super well, and we get the results that we want," he said.
"We all said after the first couple of games that this might be the best curling we've all played. I truly felt like we showed our level, especially in the group stages. Playoffs, it gets a bit nervous, maybe the ice changes a bit, so we didn't quite manage to play as well, but it's been a lot of fun. You lose the first final and then you win the next four, right?"
Earlier Sunday, Canada's Team Kerri Einarson claimed the women's title with a 6-3 win over South Korea's Team Bo-bae Kang.
The Grand Slam of Curling season continues with the GSOC Masters, Nov. 3-8, in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
